Software Engineering Manager applicants have rated the interview process at Microsoft with 3.3 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 75% positive. To compare, the company-average is 66.4% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Software Engineering Manager roles take an average of 26 days to get hired, when considering 8 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at Microsoft overall takes an average of 30 days.
Common stages of the interview process at Microsoft as a Software Engineering Manager according to 8 Glassdoor interviews include:
Phone interview: 29%
One on one interview: 24%
Presentation: 12%
Drug test: 12%
Group panel interview: 6%
Personality test: 6%
Skills test: 6%
IQ intelligence test: 6%
Here are the most commonly searched roles for interview reports -
I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at Microsoft (Nairobi) in Feb 2021
Interview
1. Phone screen with recruiter
2. 4 virtual interviews. 1 hour each, touching on system design, algorithms and behavioural questions.
3. Background checks - took about 15 days.
The whole process was seamless and the recruiter kept updating me on the progress.
Process took a total of 2 months
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
1st Interview
Started with intros
Had a few behavioural questions e.g tell me the most challenging thing you've done recently
Code task was about traversing a 2D array in a spiral pattern.
2nd Interview
Mostly behavioural around management
Code task was about checking for duplicates in an array
3rd Interview
Behavioural - tell me about a time...
Code task was to identify 5 in an input string and replace it with 2 numbers that would add upto the original e.g 153, soln is 143+10.
4th Interview
Started with behavioural questions
Code task: Picture the old phones, letters were mapped to numbers e.g 1 = ABC, 2=DEF etc. So you're given an input number e.g 21 and you're supposed to print all possible combinations.
Follow up on this were:
Calculate runtime complexity
Runtime complexity when we add a dictionary check
I applied online. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at Microsoft in Jan 2025
Interview
1st round with HM - focussed more on past work experiences.
After that full loop 4 rounds with team - Coding, Design, Behavioral, People management.
I was interviewing for security role, so most design questions were focussed on security concepts - data protection, encryption algorithms etc
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Explain RSA key encryption and secure boot signature verification
Excellent interview process, I was treated respectfully and nicely. There was a technical interview, a design interview, an HR interview and a management interview. All were good and went well. I would really like to work there
I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Microsoft (Cambridge, MA) in Mar 2022
Interview
First round after the recruiter. Virtual interview via Teams.
Interviewer was quite easy to talk with and created a smooth "environment".
Interviewer answered in details all questions I asked. We had a good exchange comparing my experience with the environment at Microsoft Cambridge.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How to achieve consensus when engineers don't agree on a design solution ?
Several technical questions about the projects described on my resume.